


Keys

by Trefoil_9



Series: Undertale Flash Fictions [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Flash Fic, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, neither of these if you include this in the AmberTale canon, post-grillster if you squint harder, sansby - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11971404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trefoil_9/pseuds/Trefoil_9
Summary: Post-Gaster-disappearance. Grillby carries Sans home. [standalone]





	Keys

Sans woke to cradling warmth.

He’d remembered cold, bone-aching cold that cut right through his hoodie, thin from too many washes. He’d known that he should have brought something heavier but hadn’t had the motivation to walk back to the house. Instead he’d dragged himself to the warmth of Grillby’s, eaten half a burger, and fallen asleep on the stool, his head on his arms. He hadn’t meant to actually sleep there, just rest for a moment—he felt that there was an immense weight settled across his head and shoulders, he just had to rest, just for a moment. But he hadn’t been able to resist sleep. And now he was… somewhere else?

Listening, he could hear footsteps crunching through snow, and the great hush of Snowdin during a snowfall. His cheek lay against something soft and warm that smelled lightly of flame; like soot but cleaner, and of warmed silk. Sans wriggled upwards and his head popped out of the front of Grillbz’ jacket. Grillbz looked down at him with an unreadable expression and stopped walking.   
“Heya,” said Sans.   
Grillbz put a hand on his head and pushed him back under the flap of his jacket, then continued walking.

If Grillby’s was closed, as Sans assumed it had to be if Grillbz was leaving, then it was very late. He’d missed Papyrus’ bedtime, which had probably made his brother first irritated, then worried. Darn. Well… he’d deal with that in the morning, right now he just wanted to sleep.

Grillbz walked up three wooden steps and then stopped and appeared to be searching his pockets for something. Sans started to wiggle up to a position where he could reach his pockets and take out his key, but before he could he heard a lock click quietly open, and Grillbz walked forwards. The door closed behind them.

What?

Grillbz shucked off his snowy jacket and Sans saw that they were, in fact, standing in his own house. When had he given Grillbz a key?

…He hadn’t. He felt that it was right that Grillbz had one, even that he’d known of it, at some point in the past, but had forgotten since… It was one of the things that had been erased from his mind after that  _thing_  that happened, that none of them could quite remember, that it made him uncomfortable to try to think about, that he was certain had taken away someone dear to them, someone whose face he could almost but not quite remember. Grillbz, he realized, had been aware of the sudden shock of invisible absence as well. He wondered if it plagued him the way it did Sans—when he  _tried_  to remember things, he couldn’t, but every now and then he’d catch himself doing things that didn’t make sense. Wanting to buy tartar sauce for someone who liked tartar sauce, but Papyrus didn’t eat condiments and who else would he buy groceries for? Not sitting on the middle of the couch, because that was  _His_  spot—or was it? He couldn’t remember anything definite, but it seemed claimed. Picking up a book on astrophysics at the dump and being momentarily excited to study it with someone who didn’t exist, then becoming confused when he tried to remember who and why.

Grillbz walked quietly up the stairs and past Papyrus’ room. He tried to open Sans’. Sans dug out his key and gave it to him.

Inside, Grillbz looked around and made a faint whuffing noise of dismay.   
“Uhh yeah I know, just uh, dump me in the sheets or something and I’ll—” Grillbz set Sans against the wall and set about collecting the bedding which had migrated to various parts of the room. Sans watched him. He didn’t throw the bedding on the mattress, at least not at first. First he lay down on it for a few moments, not as though he were resting, but with a purposeful air. Then he shook out the sheets and picked up the quilt, but didn’t lay it down, instead he folded it and held it close to him. Then he shook it out and laid it over the mattress. The pillow, once he’d found it drifting in circles near the ceiling in the trash vortex of unstable telekinetic magic that still hadn’t settled out, got the same treatment. Only then did he return to Sans, pick him up, and tuck him into bed. The mattress, pillow and blanket radiated warmth that smelled faintly of clean fire and silk, and that sank deep into his bones, removing any trace of tension or cold. Sans sighed happily, curling deep into the comforting weight of the quilt. Grillbz tucked it around him and rested a warm hand on his head. Then he walked out, closing the door quietly behind him. 


End file.
